The signs are pointing towards e-mobility. And politicians can't do this fast enough, which is why they are offering more and more incentives to switch to an electric car. Quarks shows how environmentally friendly electric cars really are. 00:00 Introduction 01:02 How climate-friendly is the electric car? The materials from which an electric car is made - such as aluminum - are not always climate-friendly. However, aluminum has the advantage of making the electric car light. A light electric car needs less energy to drive and therefore a smaller battery. But what about the battery and motor when manufacturing an electric car? Author: Lars Tepel 03:37 The range challenge How far can you go on one battery charge in an electric car? And what influence does driving style have on the electric car? Our reporters want to find out today to what extent you can trust the manufacturers' information on range. As a rule, an electric car should have a range of up to 280 km. We are starting the big test for this. Author: Fredrik Sass 15:45 Battery replacement: The solution to all problems? Another hurdle for electric cars is generating electricity and charging the battery. Charging is often time-consuming and not possible everywhere. That's why there's a new idea: changing batteries instead of charging them for a long time. Paul Leibold has built such an electric car. But how does the concept of changing batteries work in practice? Author: Reinhart Brüning 20:54 Electric car fire (part 1) A battery fire in an electric car presents firefighters with completely new challenges. Experience from recent years has shown that difficulties can arise when it comes to extinguishing a burning battery in an electric car. Our reporter and stuntman puts the electric car to the test. He drives the electric car into a concrete wall at over 70 km/h. After the impact, the electric car is set on fire. Authors: Dirk Gion, Jens Hahne 26:46 Valuable lithium Lithium is needed to manufacture an electric car. Lithium is always combined with other elements. Extracting it from such compounds is difficult. Let's look at South America: more than half of the world's lithium reserves come from there. It is found bound as salt under the white crust of the lakes. This makes mining easier. However, a lot of water is also lost in the process, which is becoming a permanent problem for people in the region. The valuable lithium is also stored in Europe. But so far it has only been found here as a resource. Authors: Kerstin Gründer, Anke Riedel 31:55 How do I extinguish an electric car? (Part 2) Back to our Quarks experiment. So far, the electric car fire has been the same as with a diesel or gasoline car. But that will soon change. The first attempt to extinguish the fire in our electric car fails. The second attempt to extinguish the fire is also in vain. A battery fire in an electric car requires a much larger amount of water than for a combustion engine. Authors: Dirk Gion, Jens Hahne 38:05 Classic with a modern touch? Today, a gasoline-powered duck is to be converted into an electric car. Fully charged, the e-duck should be able to travel 140 km. Two mechanical engineers first remove the engine, tank, exhaust and back seat. The batteries will later take the place of the back seat. An alternating current motor with three times the power of the previous engine will be installed. Author: Shajan Ramezanien 40:54 Hydrogen car phenomenon What is the status of the hydrogen car? The idea starts off promisingly: no combustion, no exhaust fumes, no noise. In 1966, General Motors brought the first hydrogen car onto the market, but it remained a test object. In 1994, Mercedes-Benz also presented a new model, which flopped. The federal government supported the car industry in this area with subsidies. But even in 2020, there are no hydrogen cars on the market. Why is that? Author: Anke Riedel --- Thanks for watching! Did you like the video? Then subscribe now to the only official Quarks channel on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/Quarks?sub_co... Also visit: https://www.quarks.de #Quarks on Instagram: / quarks.de / beautyquarks Quarks on Twitter: / quarkswdr Quarks on Facebook: / quarks.de Here you can find the clip in the WDR media library: https://www.ardmediathek.de/video/qua... #Quarks #Electriccar